


Strange Aeons

by neosaiyanangel



Category: Final Fantasy X, Final Fantasy XIII
Genre: F/F, F/M, First Meetings, First and Last Kiss, Goodbyes, Minor Auron/Lulu, Minor Tidus/Rikku
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-27
Updated: 2020-04-27
Packaged: 2021-03-01 18:33:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,354
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23871673
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/neosaiyanangel/pseuds/neosaiyanangel
Summary: Yuna and her guardians find a long-lost temple housing a very special Aeon.
Relationships: Lightning (Final Fantasy XIII)/Yuna (Final Fantasy X)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 8
Collections: Minigame: Round 1





	Strange Aeons

**Author's Note:**

  * For [VampirePaladin](https://archiveofourown.org/users/VampirePaladin/gifts).



Tidus was strangely nervous. Why? He wasn't sure. There was just something uneasy about this temple.

Their troupe had journeyed off the beaten path in Macalania Woods in an attempt to throw off their pursuers. Somehow, someway, they had found a long-lost temple. How could a temple just be forgotten like that? No one in their group knew.

They'd made it through all the puzzles and such just fine. Everything still worked.

But...

There was something _different_ about this temple. Something special. It had an interesting, otherworldly feeling to it.

"Hey!"

Tidus jumped at the voice just to his left. He turned and exclaimed, "Geez, Rikku! Give a guy a heart attack why don'tcha?"

"Sorry, sorry!" She scratched the back of her head and stuck her tongue out for a moment. "I was just wondering..." Rikku's gaze traveled to the entrance to the Chamber of the Fayth. "This place is kinda weird, right?"

"That's just what _I_ was thinking!" Tidus once again boggled at how Rikku seemed to get where he came from most of the time. It was actually pretty nice!

"If I had my way we wouldn't have even come in," Rikku said grumpily.

"We were kinda outvoted," Tidus noted, waving at the others. Wakka was busy balancing a blitzball on his head, seeming to be counting as he occasionally bounced it up into the air, while Kimarhi rested against a nearby pillar. Lulu and Auron were talking, as usual. Sometimes Tidus wanted to interrupt them, but was certain he would just get rebuffed. They were such sticks in the mud. They made for a pretty good pair in that respect.

"Yeah." Rikku blew at strands of hair in her face. Tidus decided to help her out and brushed some of it behind her ear. She giggled; his heart skipped a beat at the sound.

Shaking it off, he grumbled, "I swear, the time waiting for this stuff increases each time!"

"You're just impatient, bro," Wakka said loudly, dropping the blitzball into his hands. "Just gotta go wit' the flow, eh?"

Tidus turned to give him his two gil, but was cut off by the chamber door opening. They all looked up to watch Yuna as she descended down to them. There was a peculiar expression on her face which, to Tidus' confusion, was red and sweaty.

"What in the world happened in there?" Rikku asked, peering closely at Yuna as she approached them all.

"This is a...unique Aeon," Yuna offered cryptically. "Come. I will summon her for our travels."

As Yuna walked with purpose out the door, not paying any attention to the rest of them, Tidus couldn't help but think: what?

—

Yuna was already posed to summon when they all regrouped outside the temple. She wasted no time, casting her summon magic to bring the Aeon to their world.

The ground rippled, a strange symbol with branching eyeballs appearing before it burst into a dome of lightning. In the bursts of light and darkness a form appeared. Then it _jumped_ out of the dome. It took a solid form as sparks flew off it. Tidus was surprised to find it was actually two! A woman clad in white armor with fluffy feathers trailing from the back, a cape flying over one shoulder in the wind on top of a brilliant steampunk horse. Two gigantic swords were easily held in her hands, making Tidus wonder on just how _strong_ she was.

The woman jumped down from her steed and walked straight up to Yuna. "You are my summoner?"

Yuna nodded, hesitantly at first before it became more assured.

"Good. You're the first summoner to find me in a long while." She knelt down before Yuna. "I, Lightning, swear my swords to your cause."

"Uh-huh..." Tidus looked around at everyone. To his annoyance, it seemed like he was the only one affected by her. Uncomfortably, Tidus cried, "Great! It's great you're joining us. Real...fantastic." He clapped his hands together. "I think it's time we head out, eh?"

"Right." Lightning put her swords on her back and hopped back onto her horse. It trotted over to Yuna. Lightning held her hand out to Yuna. "Here. You can ride with me."

Again, all Tidus could think was: what?

"You're an Aeon," Tidus said in an obvious tone. "You're gonna vanish in, like, a minute!"

"She is...different. Lightning won't go away like other Aeons do," Yuna said as she hopped onto Lightning's horse. "She'll be a new travel companion for now on."

"How unusual," Lulu noted.

"Are you ready?" Lightning looked behind her, waiting for Yuna's signal.

Yuna nodded. "Yes. Let us go."

"Right." Lightning didn't even direct her horse. It just _seemed_ to know how and where to go as it began easily climbing the hill up back to the main path.

Tidus grumbled. Man! That was so unfair! As Auron began helping Lulu up the hill, Tidus sighed. Ah well. At least it was manageable.

—

Yunalesca stood, waiting for their decision.

Tidus was appalled. What kind of messed-up nonsense was this?! This was what the Final Aeon was? They had to sacrifice one of themselves AND Yuna?

No! Unacceptable! They couldn't!

"Yuna." Tidus watched out of the corner of his eye as Lightning watched her summoner.

Yuna shook her head.

"Right." Everything was normal for one second.

The next? Tidus couldn't even process it.

Lightning was sparking everywhere, somehow not hitting any of them. Lightning wasn't where she had been before. Tidus looked around before he realized that Yubalesca was now headless. As her body fell, he could now see Lightning posed just behind her corpse, swords set as if she had just made a slice.

"Whoa." Tidus could do nothing but stare in wonder.

"There is no hope," Yuna murmured. "It's a never-ending cycle."

"Don't think like that. _Never_ think like that!" Lightning put her swords away and marched over to Yuna. She took Yuna's hands in her own. "We shape our own destiny. To hell with any of this Yevon nonsense!" Her forehead touched Yuna's as she murmured, "We can take down Sin. I promise, I'll do everything I can to help take Sin down."

Tidus felt like he was intruding on a special moment. He'd always seen that there was something special between Lightning and Yuna. Now it was pretty darn obvious.

"Awwww." Rikku was next to him, sparkles in her eyes. "That's so adorable~"

"Alright, break it up you two." Wakka, ever the party pooper. "What we gotta do us figure out how to take down Sin widdout the Final Aeon. So, what do we do?"

"We take the fight to it," Lightning said sternly. "Get it away from civilization and fight it out in the middle of nowhere."

"How will we do that?" Lulu asked, putting a finger to her head in thought.

"We'll need to be able to fly somehow..." Lightning turned toward Rikku expectantly.

Rikku blinked. "What? Do I have something in my hair? Is it a spider?!"

Lightning sighed.

—

Yuna heart was on the floor, shattered. She could sense her connection to her Aeons fading. And with it...

"Sorry I can't stick around." Lightning's horse had already vanished in a poof of pyreflies. Lulu and Rikku had given their goodbyes to Auron and Tidus. It was Yuna's turn to bid her partner farewell.

"I wish..." Yuna bit her lip, then selfishly said, "I wish you could stay."

"I can't." Lightning's form faded in and out. "If I could, I would." She looked out to the horizon. "The dream is over."

Yuna walked up to Lightning and hugged her close. "Yes, I suppose it is."

"Hey." Lightning tilted Yuna's chin up until Yuna was looking her right in the eyes. "You fought destiny and _won_. I couldn't be prouder of you."

Yuna couldn't help herself. She pushed herself up to meet Lightning's lips with her own. Ozone and sunshine danced across her tongue. For a moment, everything was perfect.

Then Lightning exploded in a cloud of pyreflies. Yuna fell to her knees on the top of the airship. Then she started to cry.


End file.
